Andreu Belsunces

Andreu Belsunces

@imaginaries.bsky.social

Researching on sociotechnical fictions, hype, financialisation and cyberlibertarianism Working on a video essay on venture capital and religion Co-founder of hypestudies.org andreubelsunces.net

419 Followers 1,138 Following 30 Posts Joined Oct 2023
2 days ago

@maxrossmann.bsky.social

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3 days ago

Very exciting news indeed! Keep your eyes peeled for more news from Hype Studies crew @danishanley.bsky.social @velocitygravity.bsky.social @imaginaries.bsky.social , @wenzelmehnert.bsky.social Pierre Depaz, Jascha Bareis

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3 days ago
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a polar bear is laying on its back in the snow with a smiley face behind it that says to ALT: a polar bear is laying on its back in the snow with a smiley face behind it that says to

We're waking up from the winter slumber to share some very exciting news!

We've signed a book contract!

"Hype Studies: A Glossary" is coming to your shelves in 2027. We are delighted to share we've signed a book contract with open access publisher, transcript Verlag.

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1 week ago
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How is Sam Altman's World infrastructuring a post-democratic AI future? In this paper published in AI & Society, @laura4lano.bsky.social and I analyse how World's value is built on sociotechnical fictions & existential risk narratives that advance a cyberlibertarian transition. tinyurl.com/c8kt4bbz

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1 month ago
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Por qué está aumentando el hype por la tecnología y qué tiene que ver el capital riesgo con ello El autor examina cómo funciona el hype en el ámbito del capital riesgo y el capital privado, y por qué se ha convertido en un instrumento político tan poderoso.

Estrenamos en @elsaltodiario.com colaboración con @hypestudies.bsky.social traduciendo al español sus artículos sobre tecnopolítica.

Se estrenan con esta maravilla de texto sobre el hype y fondos de inversión de Andreu Belsunces @imaginaries.bsky.social www.elsaltodiario.com/hype-studies...

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1 month ago

for more crypto histories & imaginaries tune into www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_gW...
@lanalanalana.bsky.social , Andreu Belsunces
@imaginaries.bsky.social & Kobe De Keere cattting to @philiproscoe.bsky.social and @addiemcgowan.bsky.social

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1 month ago
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Tech, Venture Capital and the Hype of War The more of the world that is enrolled into the VC war-tech hype machine, the more we must ask where this leaves the possibility for peace, writes Elke Schwarz.

Is there a risk that the dynamics of military technology hype enroll us all into a war hype? I argue yes in this piece just published by @techpolicypress.bsky.social. www.techpolicy.press/tech-venture...

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1 month ago

Really enjoyed the conversation for the @jcultecon.bsky.social podcast. We discussed the paper we wrote with @arturocastro.bsky.social on how crypto embeds and reproduces neoliberalism, and how it participates in and benefits from crisis.

Enjoy the podcast, and please be patient with my Spanglish!

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2 months ago
Chart showing 16-year-old Adam Raine’s use of ChatGPT from the start of his account to his death by suicide in April 2025

Kevin’s chart really says it all. this is what it looks like when a vulnerable user gets sucked in by an engagement optimized chatbot

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3 months ago
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Why Tech Hype Is Rising and What Venture Capital Has to Do with It | TechPolicy.Press Andreu Belsunces Gonçalves examines how hype operates and explains why it has become such a powerful political instrument today.

When a tech bubble grows, venture capital cashes in. Its high risk, high reward model depends on constantly persuading others that its futures matter. That’s why VC has a structural need for hype.
Read my latest piece at @techpolicypress.bsky.social + @hypestudies.bsky.social

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4 months ago

The toolkit is still in beta. We hope to release it in the first quarter of next year -along with a hype literacy toolkit for journalists 🙏🏼👩🏼‍🏫

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4 months ago
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AGI Hype arenas A visual database of AGI hype discourse mapped into six key dimensions of uncertainty using qualitative research methodologies. Shown at the Mozilla Festival 2025.

Also at @mozilla.org Fest, check out this AMAZING interactive installation, a visual database of AGI hype discourse, created by a group of talented students: hype-arenas.xyz It’s beautiful to see how one’s own research can step beyond academic language and become this ⬇️

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4 months ago
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Getting ready to my talk on Artificial General Intelligence as a form of both Deep Hype and as Futures Governance instrument at @mozilla.org Fest. Come by if you around! schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/159

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4 months ago
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If you’re at @mozilla.org Fest this Saturday, join @hypestudies.bsky.social for a conversation on hype as a tech governance instrument by other means. The discussion will be facilitated through the first version of our Hype Literacy Toolkit 🖖
🔗 schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/31

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4 months ago
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‘Of course it’s a bubble’: AI start-up valuations soar in investor frenzy Unprecedented funding leads 10 groups including OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI to gain almost $1tn in value in past year

"Ten lossmaking artificial intelligence start-ups have gained close to $1tn in valuation over the past 12 months, an unprecedented increase that adds to fears about an inflating bubble in private markets that could spill over into the wider economy."

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5 months ago
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Journal of Cultural Economy Volume 18, Issue 5 of Journal of Cultural Economy

The weird & reactionary technopolitics of today are the result of 30+ years of debate among US technologists. Our paper with @arturocastro.bsky.social "Cryptofinancial Imaginaries" is out in the new issue of Journal of Cultural Economy.
Thrilled to be part of this debate: tinyurl.com/24ptrbkn

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6 months ago
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And that's a wrap! @hypestudies.bsky.social conference over and out! 🫡Thank you so much to all the incredible people who attended.
This is what academia can be 🫶

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6 months ago
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Final preparations for our conference! 🎩
We are tremendously excited to welcome all participants in-person and online tomorrow for the first conference on Hype Studies! The time has come 😊😊
Wishing safe travels to all those who are joining us from afar!

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6 months ago
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We are most honoured to host our book launch event for Neil Pollock and Robin Williams's deeply anticipated 'After Hype'!

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6 months ago
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A very special applause for our group's rising star Isa Luiten! Isa not only presented her amazing work on NewSpace and Hype from her forthcoming Thesis, but is also our tireless research assistant, keeping the Hype Studies group and conference in place. Thank you, Isa!

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6 months ago
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Fantastic panel today on 'AI Hype: Between Power and Resistance' with amazing contributions by Kat Fuller, @danmk.bsky.social, Tianqi Kou, Dana Calacci, Nasser Eledroos, and Jacek Mańko who also acted as stellar chair, debating power across multiple themes, from anti-trans hype to AGI!

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6 months ago

What is deep hype? 🕳️ This week at @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference I'll present a paper where I define deep hype as a "long-term dynamic that projects civilisational transformation through uncertain futures, making its promises unverifiable in the present" arxiv.org/pdf/2508.19749

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6 months ago
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Join us at the hybrid keynote at the @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference by Gemma Milne, author of "Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It"

Wednesday 10Sept from 17 to 18:30 CEST.

Free with previous registration: framaforms.org/dont-believe...

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6 months ago

The final programme and the abstract booklet for the @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference is out!

Programme: hypestudies.org/media/pages/...

Booklet hypestudies.org/media/pages/...

Join us online at from 10-12/9 at hypestudies.org

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6 months ago
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Más allá de las burbujas tecnológicas: entender el hype para proteger la democracia El hype exagera los posibles beneficios de una nueva tecnología mientras ofusca sus efectos negativos. Es una estrategia especulativa diseñada para atraer capital y atención mediática, y así materiali...

Nuestro artículo de @techpolicypress.bsky.social sobre las políticas del hype en relación al capitalismo tecno-financiero y sus derivas autoritarias ha sido traducido al español en @elsaltodiario.com.

www.elsaltodiario.com/atenea_cybor...

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6 months ago

The phantom of the AI bubble bust is back. Jascha Bareis and I wrote for @techpolicypress.bsky.social about how hype is a political force, benefitting some while harming others.

Hype literacy and @hypestudies.bsky.social matters: we need to learn who creates it, why, and how it shapes our futures.

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9 months ago
Fabian Muniesa (2025) 'Finance, paranoia and the radicalisation of value' -- a piece about the political implication of 'Paranoid Finance' (Polity Press, 2024).

'Finance, paranoia and the radicalisation of value' tank.tv/magazine/iss...

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10 months ago
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Want to participate in our Hype Studies Conference?

Bear in mind that tomorrow is the last day to submit your proposal ⏰🔥🎉

Call for Abstracts and Projects: hypestudies.org/conference

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10 months ago
Sociotechnical Fictions: The Performative Agencies of Fiction in Technological Development This paper coins and develops the notion of sociotechnical fiction: a type of fiction distinct from literary or cinematic forms, which operates within the technosciences to materialise non-existent, i...

What are sociotechnical fictions?

In my new paper I explain how, unlike literary forms, such fictions operate within the contours of science and technology to bring the imaginary into reality -and how they do so through epistemic, aesthetic, affective and normative agencies.

🔗 shorturl.at/acsrK

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11 months ago
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Cryptofinancial imaginaries: how neoliberal theories are materialized in the technical principles of cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrencies are sociotechnical objects encoding the visions and interpretative frameworks of the communities of practice that ideated and designed them. This paper explores and presents the no...

🔥 Techno-authoritarianism has been brewing since at least the 1970s 🔥

In this new paper, @arturocastro.bsky.social and I trace how neoliberal theories—distrust in the state, private money, and the fetish of decentralisation—grounded the technical principles of contemporary cryptocurrencies.

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